I was not planning on watching any of the World Cup matches this weekend, but circumstances (meaning someone said, “Want to get a beer?”) found me watching the U.S. / England match. I’d feel sorry for the England goalkeeper, Rob Green, if his incredible error did not benefit the U.S. so much (1-1 tie).

When an event only comes around once every four years fans of the game are just a little eager to see some action and support their favorite teams. After watching some of the action surrounded by fans of the most popular game in the world I could not help but find myself getting caught up in the action.

England and USA (AP/Getty)

Besides the U.S., I would say I am going to have to pull for South Africa. I love rooting for an underdog; the 83rd ranked Bafana Bafana (South Africa) would not have been able to make the tournament had they not been hosting it.

While the rankings don’t favor them, destiny is smiling on the South Africans. They drew the tough 17th ranked Mexico team in the opening game of the tournament. In the history of the World Cup there has never been a hosting team that did not advance to the next round; in five prior appearances in the opening game of the tournament Mexico was winless. In the end, the home team represented their nation well with a 1-1 tie even if the locals were not there to see it.

The tie means even more for the South African team with the outcome of the France/ Uruguay match, another tie (0-0).

I’ve read a lot about Lionel Messi; from what I read and saw of his performance against Nigeria even a soccer novice like me could see this guy is a bad man. He is proof that it is not always the scoring that makes the man; with the Nigerian defense obviously so concerned about him, Gabriel Heinze was able to get the only goal that Argentina would need to win 1-0.

That proved to be an even more valuable goal than thought when the team later found out that it brought them a much needed win to be tied with South Korea for their group. Lee Jung-soo and Park Ji-sung powered their team to an easy win over Greece (2-0).

By the end of the night I was drunk, but I was also looking forward to watching the next day’s action as I recovered from my hangover. USA! USA! USA!

Beer: Mysterium Verum from the good people at Real Ale Brewing in Blanco, TX- in honor of Clint Dempsey for making the goal that Rob Green should have blocked I want to talk about a ‘real mystery’ from his home state of Texas.

Mysterium Verum translates into ‘real mystery.’ Every so often, the good people at Real Ale Brewing decide to create one. Essentially what they do is take one of their current beers and do something different with it or they create something completely new. Basically, they experiment and come up with a new beer.

If you are able to find any of these beers (“The Highlander” (barrel-aged Real Heavy), “The Devil’s Share” (barrel-aged Devil’s Backbone), “The Kraken” (barrel-aged Sisyphus), “Empire” (barrel-aged IPA), “Vol.13” (barrel-aged 13th anniversary ale), try them! You will not be disappointed!